Overview of Assigning User IDs (UID) for all Users
Interfolio has a dedicated data field intended to capture a consistent, unique identifier value for every user in all Interfolio Faculty Information System (FIS) modules, including Faculty Search (FS), Lifecycle Management (LM), and Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT). Interfolio requires each user to have a unique user identifier (UID) for two primary reasons:
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Preventing Duplicate User Records: Requiring a UID for every user helps Interfolio consistently identify each person and reduces duplicate user records. This can prevent issues such as:
- Users being unable to access the correct account
- Users being unable to locate materials they previously uploaded
- The same person appearing multiple times in a user list
- Multiple accounts being created because a person uses different email addresses, such as name@demo.edu, name@mail.demo.edu, or name@medicine.demo.edu
- Consistent User Identification Across Interfolio: A UID provides a reliable way to identify the same person across Interfolio products. This supports consistent user records and makes it easier to manage users whose roles, email addresses, or product access may differ across the institution. Using one institutional identifier for each person also helps connect account information accurately across Interfolio’s user-management processes.
This article explains the purpose of the UID, how the requirement affects user creation and provisioning, and how institutions can assign and manage UIDs.
Be sure to preserve any Leading Zeros when entering or importing a UID.
UID Feature Overview
A UID is a permanent, institution-assigned value used to consistently identify the same person across Interfolio products. Depending on the institution, this may be an employee ID, faculty ID, login ID, or another unique identifier. A UID must:
- Be unique to one person
- Remain associated with that person over time
- Be used consistently across Interfolio products and provisioning methods
- Contain no more than 40 characters
- Contain only alphanumeric characters
A UID should not be based on an email address or an Interfolio-generated identifier.
Where is UID Required?
When the UID is toggled on for an institution, the User ID field will become a required step in all user creation actions for that institution. This includes adding users through manual user creation and SFTP or API user provisioning.
FAQs
What value should be used as the UID?
Use a permanent institutional identifier that uniquely identifies the person, such as an employee ID, faculty ID, or login ID.
Avoid using an email address because it may change.
Best Practices
- Use a unique and stable value.
- Preserve leading zeros.
- Remember that UIDs are case-sensitive.
- Use alphanumeric characters without special characters.
- Keep the UID under 40 characters when possible.
- If the institution uses SSO, use the same unique identifier for both the UID and SSO ID when possible.
- Institutions using FAR should determine whether the existing Faculty ID or Login ID should serve as the UID.
Which users require a UID?
- All institutional users (including support accounts) require a UID, including users created manually or provisioned through SFTP or an API.
- You cannot save a UID in FS/RPT if the user's type is set to external. Therefore, the UID field should be left blank.
- Dossier users do not require a UID as this value is associated with the institutional profile of the user and not the Dossier profile.
Can a UID be edited after it is assigned?
A UID cannot be edited through the standard user-management workflow after it is assigned. Because the value should remain associated with the same person over time, institutions should verify it carefully before saving or importing it.
Download Faculty ID/User ID Change Request
Faculty IDs and UIDs
To make changes to one or more Faculty IDs or UIDs, please download this form and return it to Interfolio-support@elsevier.com.
Does the UID affect SSO?
No, the UID requirement does not change how users authenticate through SSO. However, clients should use the same values for UID and SSO ID since both should be unique and stable.
How does the UID affect SFTP and API provisioning?
Institutions that create or bulk-load users through an API must include a UID for each institutional user.
For API provisioning:
- RPT and FS integrations must use the applicable v2 user-creation endpoints.
- Integrations that load users into FS, RPT, or FAR must send the UID in the institution_user_id parameter.
- Existing API scripts may need to be updated to include this parameter.
Institutions using SFTP must also include a UID for each institutional user in the appropriate provisioning file. UID values can be reviewed in the institution’s user list report and in an individual user’s Change Log. Before changing an existing integration, confirm the required endpoint, field mapping, and file format with Interfolio.
What actions do I need to take if my institution previously used FAR without UID?
Merge Users
Before Interfolio can activate the user ID requirement for an institution, access to the field populated for all current users will need to be given to Interfolio. In order to get it populated in the system, take two steps:
- Identify existing duplicate user accounts (using a current user list that is provided) and let Interfolio know in order to merge them together in advance.
- Once all existing duplicate accounts have been merged in the system, an updated user list will be sent back, and the user ID column will need to be filled in for every user.
To get started, the Interfolio Account Manager will provide a complete, current user list that includes a column labeled Institution User ID.
Note that this is intentionally being approached in batches of clients, to ensure realistic turnaround time expectations. If interested in getting on the list soon, let the Interfolio Account Manager know.
- Once the Account Manager has sent the current list of users and the merge template spreadsheet, please follow the steps below:
- Decide which value will be used for the unique ID. This may be employee ID, faculty ID, or another permanent value that distinguishes each individual outside of Interfolio.
- Review the current user list provided by Interfolio and identify any duplicate accounts.
- If using Microsoft Excel, use the Highlight Duplicates feature as follows:
- With the user list open in Excel, select all cells on the user list by clicking Edit > Select All (or press Ctrl+A/Command+A).
- With all cells on the user list selected, click Home > Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cells Rules > Duplicate Values.
- Make sure it is set to Format only user or duplicate values and choose the color for duplicates to appear.
- Click OK, and all values that are duplicated should show up in that color.
- Mark duplicates. In Interfolio's Account Merge Template spreadsheet, mark all those duplicate users for us to merge. Please see the first tab in that template (Instructions) for detailed instructions, and the second tab “Merge List) to track duplicates.
- Send the completed merge spreadsheet back as an email attachment to Interfolio Product Support (Interfolio-support@elsevier.com), and wait for Interfolio to reply with an updated list
- Once Interfolio has completed merging the existing duplicates, an updated and more accurate user list will be sent.
- In that updated user list, please fill in the column Institution User ID correctly for each user that has an institutional ID (please leave all other columns as they are).
User IDs should be alphanumeric. No special characters should be used.
- For any users that truly do not have an institutional ID (such as visiting research fellows or temporary employees), please change the column User Type to External and leave the column Institution User ID empty.
Email the updated spreadsheet as an attachment to Interfolio-support@elsevier.com, requesting to adopt the user ID requirement. Optionally, include a preferred go-live time frame, noting that exact dates cannot be guaranteed but will be coordinated with the institution. A member of the Interfolio Professional Services team will follow up to demonstrate the process and enable the requirement.
- [If applicable] Update any API integration scripts relied upon for user provisioning to accommodate this new field. To assist, the Interfolio API Cookbook has been updated with the new standard code.
- Watch for communication from Interfolio Professional Services to decide the date when this requirement will go live for the institution.
- Include a user identifier for all users. Once this requirement has gone live for the institution, include this user identifier for all users when sending lists for user provisioning going forward.
Review Faculty File in FAR
Once UID is enabled, "Allow Login" can be turned on or off using the Faculty File. Employment Status can be updated to "Inactive" using the Faculty Classification file.
The employment and login status of faculty and staff who are not included in the faculty file will not be impacted. Their status will stay as is.
Additionally, in order for the faculty or staff member to be inactivated, they need to be added to the Faculty file with the "Allow Login" set to 0, n, no, or false.
The option to 'inactivate faculty based on employment status' is not available.
Review API User Provisioning
Check out this article on how to Provision Users and Product Access via the API for more details on changes to user provisioning via the API once UID is turned on